Future

Our present windows version work best with Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Win7/2003/2008 Server 32/64. Our Windows version works with those as well as the 64bit operating systems. Behind the data-entry screen, it is more up to date than any program we have seen. All Stratford software is multi-user, in fact, we have never published a single-user (rinky-dink) application. Unlike some other software vendors we do not charge when you add workstations. Our software is proven and it works. It is the best healthcare billing program available. It will work for the largest customers and it is priced for the smallest. 

We keep our program current with all the changes in healthcare billing, especially the changes in EDI. That is our first commitment. We want to have a program that works first and then make it as beautiful as we can - second. All electronic transmissions are required to be in the ANSI X.12 transaction sets. We have had customers transmitting heavy volume in this format since April, 1994. What other billing software company could make that claim in 1994? 

We have had ANSI X.12 v5010 coded and in all updates as of January 2007. All current versions of the Stratford program have the ANSI X.12 V5010 A1 transactions sets integrated now. Our v5010 was approved by Medicare in early 2011. We have written documentation that a provider using Stratford Software transmitted the first valid Medicare v5010 claim. You can create some claims in a pre-EDI claim file. Using that claim file, you can create the v4010 version format. Then with a simple change in the EDI control screen, create the v5010 version format from that same claim file. All Stratford updates contain all ICD9 and ICD10 diagnosis codes as well as an integrated utility to convert between the 2 formats automatically at the time the claim is created. That means you can enter your diagnosis codes in either ICD9 or ICD10 (or mix them) and the EDI output will be in the format that the receiver (payer or clearinghouse) requires. We demonstrated this at our user meeting in November 2010 at the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay convention center. What other software company had that capability in 2010?

ICD-10-CM (diagnosis codes) and ICD-10-PCS (procedure codes) have been adopted by almost all countries in the world except the USA. The Stratford windows version was designed to be compatible with ICD10 in 1998 and will accommodate all the known variations/extensions of ICD-10. The present Stratford data table field is 9 characters alpha numeric. ICD-9 is 5 characters (about 13,000 codes) and ICD-10 is 7 characters (about 120,000 codes).

Our "Windows only" version is available for download using a utility that is distributed with all updates. The windows-compiled version is about 130+ megabytes (compressed). It is not suited for modem download. We recommend DSL or cable modem connections only.

The windows-compiled version allows you to convert data from your old DOS-compiled Stratford program so you can try it and see how it works. This may not be possible sometime after our support for the DOS version ends later in 2012.  

Scheduling and related non-billing functions:  The Windows version has a graphical scheduler. It is a comprehensive, generic, scheduler. It has 'hooks' that will allow us to expand its functions even more in the future.

Electronic Medical Records: (EMR, EPR) Stratford has clinical medical records for all specialties in the program now. This is a fully integrated module - no importing or exporting data. We plan to have extensions to the present database structure as soon as the government adopts a standard. We also plan to make software available that will allow Stratford customers to exchange patient information with other implementations of the government standard. More information here.

e-Prescriptions - Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) - should reduce the errors in prescribing. The Stratford program is certified by Surescripts and is included with the regular updates. The manual has instructions for setting it up. Of course, you can email support for help if you need it and you have pre-paid support. This is implemented as a fully integrated module at no additional charge from Stratford. More information here. You can transmit prescriptions to all pharmacies that accept e-prescriptions.

Database structure: We are using Microsoft developer tools. We distribute a royalty free database that has no pre-defined number of users. This database has no additional charges per workstation and/or server configurations. This will work for all healthcare provider organizations that we have tested.

We will attempt to allow our users to have full and unrestricted access to their data from their word processing and reporting applications. We recommend 'OpenOffice' for those clients who do not have Microsoft office. We find it to be fully compatible and even easier to use.

Longer term products: We are presently working on an 'app' that will run on Windows, Linux, Apple and Android operating systems on desktop, laptop and tablet computers and maybe even on your smart phone. When (if) this is available, we will have a conversion program that will automatically convert all your data the same as we had to convert data from our old 'DOS' compiled program to the Windows compiled program.

One of the products that we plan to develop is a complete billing, scheduling system for IPAs and HMOs. Hundreds or thousands of providers could be linked with a single scheduling system. A primary care provider could allocate a number of visits for a patient with a particular specialist on-line in real-time. The billing and encounter reporting could be an integral part of the system. The payer organization would have built-in, incredibly flexible reporting capabilities. The reporting could be done today on yesterday's data. A new level of cost / risk management would be possible. Most current and future internet browsers may display the screens.

Long term plans include SQL, noSQL (not only SQL), Clustering, Internet Server technologies. See back issues of the newsletter for more details.

We have been doing development work with SQL servers since January 1995. This technology offers increased security and scalability. This means that you can have thousands of simultaneous users working in a fault-tolerant environment. Some versions of SQL offer automatic recovery from power failures and other system crashes. Some versions of SQL can be backed up while users are accessing the data. SQL is generally more costly and our present database structure is able to easily handle all the situations we have seen so far.

Linux: We have been asked about our support of the Linux operating system. At this time, we cannot offer any support at all. We are aware of some of our users and subcontract programmers who now use Linux as a file server operating system with our windows-compiled software with no problems. If you do use Linux, you would be responsible for any problems that occur. We are certainly interested in hearing about successes and failures with Linux as we may support it in the future.

Long term requirements: No hardware or software upgrade requirements are anticipated for future versions other than those required for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Win7/2003/2008 Server 32/64 and successor operating systems. These products and are not compatible with 16-bit software such as 'DOS'. The Stratford software is only for users of Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Win7/2003/2008 Server 32/64 and successor operating systems. We have made made no effort to maintain compatibility with DOS or Windows 3.x.

The windows-compiled version will not work with Windows98/ WinNT/ WinME or any earlier operating systems. Since our product is an application that is dependent on the resources of the hardware and operating system, we are forced to change with them.

The windows-compiled version of Stratford software is more powerful than anything you have seen in this market. We said the same thing in 1989 when we released the DOS-compiled product. We were three to four years ahead of the competition then.

Software: Although we are not aware of any healthcare payers that accept claims in XML format, we believe this type of format may eventually replace all other formats. If you read other statements in this web site, you will conclude that we think the ANSI X.12 formats are the greatest and that we support them completely. This is true, but there are good reasons why we believe that XML will eventually replace all other formats for claim transmission and probably for exchange of patient information. While the ANSI X.12, ASTM, and HL7 formats are variable length records/segments and that is good, they all have fixed field placement. This makes corrections/additions more difficult. Having components make up each field helps but it is obviously a "patch". XML allows infinite additions and corrections. This is not the place to discuss XML in depth as it would take several thousand web pages to do it. The present Stratford parser can handle XML formats with few changes and we believe we can make the transition when/if it comes in a few months. Much of the messaging in our windows-compiled version is done with XML now. There is a utility built into the present Windows version that will dump any data table into XML. XML has a significant disadvantage for large transmissions: it's size is one-third or more larger than the same transmission in ANSI X.12 837 for example. Most of this disadvantage can probably be eliminated by using a zipped file as was used by many payers with the old NSF formats. The Stratford program has integrated 'zip' capabilities so this will be easy for us. We now have XML import/export utilities that are in heavy use. For example, you can connect the Stratford program to various 'certified EHR programs' that might allow you to qualify for the government incentives.

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Last modified: 05/03/12